Introduction: a time to mourn and a time to dance

Since January 2019, in five out of twelve issues, the Journal of African Christian Biography has paid tribute to major figures of African Christianity, recently deceased: Lamin Sanneh (Gambia/US, Catholic, 1942-2019) in the April 2019 issue, John Mbiti (Kenya, Anglican, 1931-2019) in the January 2020 issue, John Samuel Pobee (Ghana, Anglican, 1937-2020) in the April 2020 issue, Charles Nyamiti (Tanzania/Kenya, Catholic, 1931-2020) in the July 2020 issue, and now, in the October 2021 issue, Benedict Ssettuuma, Jr. (Uganda, Catholic, 1967-2021) and Andrew Finlay Walls (Ghana/UK/All Africa, Methodist, 1928-2021). The disappearance of so many giants of African Christianity—pioneers who carved out a space for Africa in the gated realm of Christian history and theology—seems to have accelerated since the deaths of Kwame Bediako (Ghana, Presbyterian, 1945-2008) and Ogbu Uke Kalu (Nigeria, Presbyterian, 1943-2009) in 2008 and 2009. Lastly, the loss of Andrew Walls, “Prof.” and mentor to many scholars who preceded him in death, crowns the passing of a generation that laid the foundations for the academic study of African Christianity.